Oven loader



Oct. 13, 1931. F. A. HOPPE ET AL 1,326,335v

OVEN LOADER Filed April 3, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. '13, 19 31. HOPPE ET AL 1,826,885

OVEN LOADER Filed April 5, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. '13, 1931.

F. A. HOPPE ET AL OVEN LOADER Filed April 5, 1951 :5y Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Oct. 13, 1931 vuirsio srnrjsi rnm nmcn anorrnm .rosnr cams, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,*ASSIGNORS 'ro mg 1 PETERSEN OVEN COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS ovnn iloansa 4 This invention relates to bake ovens and more particularly those known as the traveling tray type,-1and it is specifically directed toan apparatus for loading the goods onto w the trays as-the latter approach the mouth or doorway-of the oven. y v

Oneof the primary objects of this invention is to provide an apparatus that is simply and dependably constructed, and which is arranged and operated so that it does not uire the-attendant placing hishands or arms withinthe doorway of the oven when loading theloaves of dough upon the shelves or trays- In this respect the present appa- {Qratus dispenses with the-use" ofvthe special,

implements. and tools that. heretofore have beenivused for depositing the unbaked loaves upon the trays. v

a In, the present structure a movable carriage is provided that erator reverses-themovement of the apparatus, this motion causes thesupport upon tingency the platform or plate would have its feeding end raised upwardly by the moving tray to'such an extent that it might be impossible to deposit'the loaves of dough.

Provision is made inthe present apparatus to permit the .upward tilt proof the loading frame sothat while the loader may be moved to an inclin dposition by a moving tray, the

operator may be able .to withdraw the car-' nage from the oven doorway and not deposit the load until the next tray reaches the doorway. By making such a provision in this structure, the danger of disrupting, the parts or damaging the apparatus is to a great extent avoided;

The structure herein disclosed novel and on comparatively simple in construction, and in f A pplieation fil ed aprna, 1931. sum 527,410. Q ii 1 operation it will discharge the loaves upon the trays with greater speed than vwhen this operation is performed by hand. I

is inserted through the doorway of the ovenin a plane slightly above the adjacent tray, and which, when the pand looking in the direction ofthe arrows.

unbaked Thestructure is dependable in operation, it

is easy to manipulate, it is. sturdy in construction, and it will not readilygetout of order.

Other objects of the invention will be appar ent to others after the construction and'the arrangement of the parts are understood.

It is preferred to carry. out this invention and to accomplish the various objects. there of, in substantially the manner hereinafter fully described a and as. more particularly pointed out in the claims; Reference willno-w" be'made' to the accomp'anying drawings that for a part of this specificatiomin which, 7

Figure lis atop plan of this loading ap-- paratus mount'edfin front of the oven door-' way with a portion broken away and foreshortened between the ends ofthe carriage. {Figure 2 is a vertical elevation'of an end ofthe structure shown 'inFigure. 1. V V

a Figure 3 is an end view of the upper por tion of the structure shown in Figure 2jwith the" carriage moved intothe oven a d' b to d scharge a l d V r I 1" Figures 4 and 5 are schematic'viewsshow ingfdifi'erent positions of the cam that'is' utilizedfor temporarily holdinga portion of the loading structure.

Figure 6 is a deta l sectional view in vertical elevatlonof a port on of the carrler 01 f platform and its supporting elements, the section being taken on line 6-6 of Figure 3 1 Figure 7 is a view similarto Figure 6 and is, a partial section taken on line 7-7,vof Figure3.j V The drawings are more or less of a schematic character and are to be understood'as being for the purpose of disclosing'a typical 7 v or preferred form in which the invention may be produced, and in-said drawings similar reference characters designate like parts wherever these parts appear throughout the several views. r

f The portion of the ovenshown consists of the frontv wall 10 having the :doorway 11 7 through which access ishad to the interior of the oven and'immediately inside the door- Way a chain or link belt conveyer 12 moves in an upward direction carrying the trays or shelves 13 that are adapted to pass in close proximity to the doorway. The trays are of elongated construction so as to extend the width of the interior of the oven and the door of standards 14 that are braced by diagonal struts and are connected at their bottom portions by horizontal side and end pieces 16;

I Thetops of the standards are connected by rails 17 made from angle metal strips that are disposed with their horizontal flange lowermost to provide tracks upon which the movable carrier or carriage of the loader is supported. Said side rails or tracks 17 form a part of the skeleton structure of the supporting frame, and other longitudinal and transverse braces and side end pieces are employed for stiffening the skeleton frame.

The carriage of the loader preferably con sists of a large rectangular plate 18 that is long enough to pass into the oven doorway between the ends of the latter. This plate may be of wood, ply-board, or other suitable material, that is bounded upon its edges by angle pieces 19, and the whole structure thus formed may be provided with. a covering 20 of thin metal for protective and other pur- I poses.

Adjacent the longitudinal end of the carriage nearest the operator the plate structure is provided with wheels 21, the spindles 22 where of are secured to and project laterally in horizontal planes from the side or end edges of the plate structure. Hanging from the outer ends of the spindles 22 are pendent links 23 that hang down outside the rails 17 upon which the rollers 21 rest and have their lower portions bored to received spindles 24 of the lower wheels 25. These lower wheels 25 have their upper segments engaged with the undersurfaces of the rails or tracks 17 immediately under the supporting wheels.

, ()ther supporting wheels 26 are mounted upon spindles 27 about midway of the sides or ends of the plate structure and rest upon the rails or tracks 17 in the same manner as the wheels 21. This mounting of the carriage permits the portion of the plate structure farthest from the operator to over-hang the wheels 26 to such an extent that the longitudinal edge portion of the carriage may be inserted through the door way of the oven and into the path of the upwardly moving 1 trays in the manner shown in Figure 3.

The carriage may be tilted upwa'rdly from its edge nearest the oven and will not be disengaged from the tracks 17- due to the double wheel structure at the end nearest the operator, although the wheels 26 will be lifted slightly from the tracks and the edges of the apron will be pulled laterally from between the clamp members in the event the inner edge of the carriage becomes engaged with an upwardly moving tray so as to lift the same in the manner shown in dotted-lines in Figure 2. This will permit the operator to immediately retract the carriage and withdraw it from the traveling tray withoutloading the latter and without" damage ltd parts.

For the purpose of discharging the load of unbalred dough upon the traveling tray, a flexible apron-or conveyer 28 of endless formation surrounds the structure and extends over and around both of its longitudinal edges. In order to give this conveyer or apron freer movement elongated rollers 29 and 30 are mounted respectively 'a-t'the end' of the carriage nearest the operator and at the edge nearest the oven. The roller 29 has its trunmons mounted in irregularly shaped brackets 31 projecting horizontally from the adjacent portions of the plate structure, while the trunnions of the roller 30 are journ aled in extensions 32 of the channel pieces 19that' bound the side or end edges of the plate struc-' ture. The brackets 31 have an elongated handle 33 extending between andsecure'dto' them so that the operator may grasp said handle and move the carriage into and outof the oven doorway during the loadmgoper ations.

Aswill be seen in the drawings. especially by reference. to Figures 6 and 7, the side edges of theapron or conveyer extend beyond the sides of the plate structure to providea' gripper flap as shown at 28 1n Figures 6 and 7 the purpose of which will 'now" be 'eig plained. A post 34 extends upwardly from each of the uprights 14E ne-arest'the oven and these posts are each provided with a ledge or arm 35 that projects toward the plate structure in a plane below the upper reach of the apron, or more specifically; immedi-ately below the upper reach of the gripper flap 28 of the conveyer or apron' The upper sur face of these'ledges are serrated orroughened as at 36 to increase friction. Abovethef ledges are horizontal spindles 37'that pro ject over the apron and at points above the flap portions 28 of the apron these; spindles are provided with cams 38 in the formof eccentricallvpivoted disks. The arrangement of theeams is such that when the carriageis moved into theoven the cams will trail on the apron flap in the manner shown in Fig: ure 4 and thus allow the apron or conveyer to remain stationary on theplate structure but movethcrewith. If. during operation, an oven tray should lift the inner end of-the loader carriage, the plate 18 which supports the apron will be raised and will'pull the apron flaps 28 laterally from between the cams and ledges, while thecarriage -pivotson the rear or outer Wheels 21. Upon restoring v the plate 18 and carriage to normal positions,

the apron flaps maybe readily inserted be tween the cams and ledges, -When, however, the innermost posit on has been reached and the operator begins to withdraw the carriage the cams will wedge the flaps 28 of the apron or conveyer betweentheir peripheries and the opposing surfaces of the ledges 35, as shown in Figure thus gripping therapron or conveyer between them and preventing movement at thesepoints.

The plate structure will ment due to the fact that the adjacent portions oft-he apron will move around'these rollers, thus reducing the distanc'ebet ween the inner edge of the carrier andfthe cams, so that the loaves of dough which have p'revia ously been placed upon this portion of the structure, will be discharged and deposited v retracting carriage. As soon as thecarriage" upon the oven tray immediately below the has been moved back to its outer limit the conveyer may be reloaded with freshloaves of dough and again moved into the oven to load another tray. I Blocks 39 are placediu-pon. the tracks near the outer ends of the latter,

and other blocks 40 are placed atthe opposite ends of thetracks, said blocks acting as stops r to limit the movements of the carrier.

Whenthe carriage or carrier is in its outermost'position preparatory to inserting a row of dough loaves into the oven, andwhile.

waitingfor the approach of the next oven tray the operator,- may load theportion of the carriage which is nearest the handle, and

when he is readyto discharge the other row of'dough theentire carriage will be loaded. It will be understood that there is usually two rows of dough upon the carriageatthe time it is inserted through the ovendoorway and upon being retracted thejoutermost row has moved, after the other which has been discharged, up to a point nearthe oven doorway. This arrangement permits the operator to always have an extra row of dough; ready for discharge in case a tray reaches the loading position too'rapidly or prematurely.

WVhat is claimed is 7 p p a 1. An oven loader comprising a support ing frame having parallel tracks, a carrier supported on said tracks and movable into and out of the oven, anendless apronsur rounding the bed of the carrier and upon which the goods are initially deposited, and

' ing frame having parallel'traeks, a carrier i and out oftheoven, an endless apron'surrounding the bed of the carrier and'upon, which the goods are initiallydeposited, and" wedging devices engaged with the edges of said apron adapted to detain theapron during the outwardmovement of thecarrier;

2. An oven loader comprising a supportsupported on said tracks and: movableinto be withdrawn and" the rollers 29 and 30 will permit this "move wedging a viengagea with; the edges i of:

an apronand adap'tedto grip and holdthe carrier; I

and out of i the; oven, 1 an endless; apron sur-' rounding "the bed "of the carrier and'upon;

the' goods are initiallygdepositem;and

said apron and adapted to engage the edges f the apr n an h dith sam during the outwardmovement of -thecarrier.

4. An oven. loader comprising a supporting frame having parallel tracks,.,a carrier apron during fthe outward movement of the "'3; T ove'n loader comprising'i-a 7,0 ing: 'frarrie having parallel tracks, fa= carrier supported on said 'tracks 'and' movable in-to wedging devices engaged with the edgesof supportedon'said'tracks and movable into I andout of the oven, an endless apron sur v rounding the'bed of thecarrier and upon which the goods are initially deposited, horizontal ledges upon which portions of the edges of the apron rest, and wedge'elements coacting with saidledges adapted to grip V zontal ledges upon which portionsof the edges of the apron rest, and eccentrica'lly mounted disksqcoac'ting with said ledges adapted to griplthe apron between them c a,

during outward movement of the carrier.

'6. An" oven loader comprising a supportsupported on said tracks and movable thereoninto and out of the oven, jrollers at the forward and rear edges ofthe' bed of the carrier, an endless apron engaged with said 7 rollers" and extending around the same and across the carrier bed, ledgesextending under opposite edges of the apron, and cams mounted in cooperation with said ledges and 7 adapted to engage the upper surface of the ing frame having parallel tracks, a carrier j apron above said ledges,'whereby said apron is gripped and heldby said-ledges and cams during outward movement of the carrier from the oven. r

7. An oven loader comprising asupporti ing frame, a carrier reciprocable thereon towards and from the oven, an endless apron surrounding the bed of the carrier and upon which the goods are deposited, and wedging devices mounted on the supporting frame adapted to trail on said apron when the carrier is moved towards the oven and'adapted to engage and. hold said apron when the,

oarrieris moved away from the oven. 1 '8. "An oven 'loadei'eomprising a supporting frame, a carrier reoiprocable thereon V t'owards'and from the oven,,an endless apron surrounding'the bed of the carr er and upon which the goo (1's ale deposited, stationary means mounted on said frame and disposed. below the upper reach of the apron, and earns mounted on said frame and co-acting with said stationary means, said cams adapted to trail on said apron When the carrier is moved towards the oven and adapted to Wedge the apron against said statlonary means when the earner 1s moved away from the oven.

1 Signed at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, thisQOth day of May,

. JOSEF CRYNS.

FRIEDRICH A. HOPPE. 

